Nico Rosberg, Mercedes land Laureus Award nods

Nico Rosberg and the Mercedes AMG Petronas have been recognised for their 2016 Formula 1 World Championship performances with nomination nods in the prestigious Laureus World Sport Awards.

Though he missed out on the chance to fight for the Sportsman of the Year Award following a competitive nomination process that saw him go up against a plethora of decorated Rio Olympics contenders, Rosberg is still recognised in the World Breakthrough of the Year category.

Set to be the only chance he will get to win a Laureus award following his shock retirement, Rosberg nonetheless goes up against some formidable opposition, with the dogged Iceland Euro 2016 football team, the Olympic gold medal winning Fiji Rugby 7s team and giant-killing Leicester City Football Club Premiership side also nominated.

Moreover, he will also going up against South African Wayde van Niekerk, who broke Michael Johnson's 20 year old 400m world record to win Olympic gold in Rio, and Almaz Ayana, who stunned the athletics world by taking a mammoth 14 seconds off the 23 year-old 10,000 world record in Brazil too.

Similarly, Mercedes AMG Petronas faces a tougher field in the World Sports Team of the Year category than it has arguably had to contend with on track over the last three years.

It is tackling the Brazilian national football team - gold medal winners on home soil in Rio -, World Series baseball champions the Chicago Cubs, Euro 2016 winners Portugal, Champions League victors Real Madrid and the Cleveland Cavaliers Basketball team.

Despite being nominated in 2014 and 2015, Mercedes AMG Petronas is yet to win the Team award in its current guise, losing out to the New Zealand rugby team in 2016 (2015) and the German national football squad in 2014 (2015). Previous F1 team winners have included Brawn in 2010 (2009) and Renault in 2006 (2005).

No F1 driver has won the Sportsman of the Year award since Michael Schumacher in 2004 (2003), the former Ferrari legend a two-time recipient of the award, though Daniel Ricciardo did win the Breakthrough of the Year award in 2015 in recognition of his maiden season as a Red Bull Racing driver. Jenson Button (2009), Lewis Hamilton (2007) and Juan Pablo Montoya (2002) have also picked up awards in this category.